In this episode, Terry and Nicky double up with a farewell interview with the Florida BEP Director, as well as The Blitz.
Intro Music (00:00):
Nicky Gacos (00:26):
Welcome to the We Are Randol Shepherd Podcast for the month of October, 2025. And of course, we wanna start by thanking our sponsors, the National Association of Blind Merchants, Blackstone Consulting, Southern Food Service, commissary Services of Nashville, Sodexo in Reach, Greenway Paper Supplies, Coca-Cola, Tyler Technologies. You selected cantaloupe ke, Dr. Pepper. Terry, how are you,
Terry Smith (01:00):
Nikki? I'm doing great. Um, recovering from a fantastic weekend in Nashville. We contracted again this year to do their annual training conference, and wow, what a weekend it was. Um, it was blast quality training, and I think everybody had a great time. We had some great speakers and had a lot of fun. And, uh, uh, so just appreciate you coming down and being part of that. I, I, I think you enjoyed it as well.
Nicky Gacos (01:25):
You know, as I said when I was down there that it was my birthday last Tuesday, and I got, uh, a great birthday present by being in two of my favorite states with a lot of my favorite people. I was in Indiana with you on Wednesday and Thursday. I want to thank Scott and the team, and Pam and Leo for taking us to dinner at St. Elmo's. Um, I'm, I'm still tasting that shrimp cocktail
Terry Smith (02:07):
Yeah. The, uh, St. Elmo's, it's, it is a famous restaurant. If you've, if you've never been, if you ever in Indianapolis, you have to go. They're known for their shrimp cocktails and they make the cocktail sauce right in the restaurant. And, uh, so it's never, always the same. Sometimes it's hotter, uh, than it is on other occasions. And, uh, I would just like to say I survived that shrimp cocktail
Nicky Gacos (02:33):
An amazing thing about their sauce is you're ready to choke and it stops somehow It goes away.
Terry Smith (02:38):
Yeah.
Nicky Gacos (02:39):
It, your nose is ready to, and, and, and you're ready to choke. And the next thing you know, it's gone. And then you take another bite,
Terry Smith (02:45):
It's right back. And Nikki, we got more travel coming. Um, let's see, we got, uh, Texas this weekend, and, uh, then what, Atlantic City and Mississippi, and I don't know what else, what, what else we got going on this month?
Nicky Gacos (02:59):
Uh, I think that's it for October, and then we got N-C-S-A-B coming up in November and, um, Kentucky in the middle of November.
Terry Smith (03:07):
Yeah.
Nicky Gacos (03:08):
Yeah.
Terry Smith (03:09):
So, uh, probably doing a couple, I think we're probably doing something virtually in there too, but, uh, yeah, it, it, it seemed to, the travel never stops. Octo September, October are really big months for the annual training conferences. And, uh, so it gets us out on the road and, um, it, it, that that's a good thing.
Nicky Gacos (03:24):
Yeah, we were busy in, you know, last month too. And, um, and then of course, don't forget, uh, we will be doing a mini blast blast on the boardwalk in Atlantic Cities, October 7th and eighth in conjunction with the Vista Buying Show. Um, and, um, you know, still time to sign up and come and spend some time with us. There's a lot going on, so you wanna be part of it. Um, and if you're a, a vendor and, and use Vista in the Northeast, come take advantage of these great discounts that they give you, especially since everything's gone up, including chocolate.
Terry Smith (03:56):
Oh, tell me about it, Nick. We've reached the fall, um, fall. Fall has arrived officially. Um, uh, yeah, when fall arrives, I think that's my favorite month. And then spring rows around, and I think that's my favorite. I mean, my favorite season and spring rows around, and I think that's my favorite season. Do you, do you have a favorite season?
Nicky Gacos (04:15):
You know, Terry, it used to be Summer, 'cause I love the beach and the shore. Um, but I, I love, I love the fall. I love the fall. I love, um, the change of season, the Christmas, uh, uh, the crisp of the air, um, the, um, fact that it starts with my birthday, which is the first day of fall. Um, and then, you know, football season, the baseball playoffs, the World Series, uh, wearing a sweatshirt, um, I kinda like that weather a little bit better instead of sweating so much in the humidity of New Jersey during the summer. And then, of course, you're right when spring comes and it's time to start baseball again. And sp you know, I always relate everything to sports, but, um, so this is a great time of my month, a month, you know, Thanksgiving comes right into it, and then Christmas, and then, um, you know, then winter comes and we're getting ready for spring.
Terry Smith (05:06):
Yeah. Fall. I love, I, I love the football season. And, um, I was, I was reading something that, uh, which fits you perfectly, that people who, who say fall is their favorite season. They, um, that they like to see change, and they, and, and, and they like to, they like to see challenges. And I, I don't quite understand the connection.
Nicky Gacos (05:26):
Yeah.
Terry Smith (05:27):
Uh, but, you know, you got all these psychologists that have to analyze everything. And, uh, as I, I, I was reading that and I said, well, you know, but, uh, uh, thought it was, uh, pretty, um, pretty appropriate. But Nick, I, I wanna, real quickly, I, we're not gonna get into our, our, our sports stuff very much, because we've got a very long podcast and we don't wanna keep folks. Um, but, uh, I did go back and check our baseball predictions and, uh, because now the, the postseason set and, uh, you picked the New York Mets and the Boston Red Sox to be in the World Series with the Mets to win it. Uh, how's that looking for you?
Nicky Gacos (06:08):
Um,
Terry Smith (06:31):
So do you realize that you let me off the hook on that podcast? Uh, I did not pick a, I did not pick a winner. Uh, I went back and listened to it, and, uh, I said that I hate the Dodgers. I hate the Yankees. And since I'm bad luck when I, when I pre predict something, that I was gonna pick the Dodgers and the Yankees, hoping that would be the kiss of death, well, they're both in it. I said, I really wanted to pick Philadelphia and Boston, but I did not pick a World Series champion. So, uh, let's see. I, my officially, I'm on the record of saying the Dodgers and the Yankees. I'm not feeling real good about, about that prediction, but, uh, uh, we shall see. Uh,
Nicky Gacos (07:11):
And I didn't ask because you usually lose anyway, so that's, I just didn't say anything,
Terry Smith (07:18):
So Nikki, uh, let's, let's get into the, the WhatsApp section session before we, before we move on, because we do have a special guest and, um, uh, that we want to get to. And then we're gonna try to, um, gonna have a very abbreviated bl blitz after the special guests, because it's, it's time, uh, to do that. Uh, but we always do WhatsApp, and this is when you get a few, a minute or so to talk about whatever's up in your life or whatever you wanna talk about. It's your time to talk. So Nicki WhatsApp,
Nicky Gacos (07:47):
Well, I think, like, like you, Terry, it's more about the, the grandkids are getting a little bit older and a little bit smarter and fun to be with and learn about 'em. Um, I was fortunate on my birthday dinner to have, uh, three of 'em there, three of the six. Um, and, uh, Samantha, who's my youngest, who's gonna turn 10 next week, um, she was so cute, dressed up to go out for a nice steak dinner. And, uh, she had scallops and, and she ate 'em all, and she was just so beautiful. And the amazing thing about the kids nowadays is they used to come in and give you a hug and do all this other thing when they first walked in the house. And now they walk in and they go, what's the password
Support (08:25):
Nicky Gacos (08:25):
So, um, you know, they need to play those games, and they all have their iPads and all that kind of stuff, but it's just gr great to see 'em grow up, and it's great to see them. And, um, the other thing that's up is that, uh, again, like with all this travel we do, and again, to see so many good friends, um, and the fact that, you know, um, we've had a couple people in the industry that have announced their retirements coming up at the end of the year. Um, and, um, you know, it's, it's, it, it's great to know when I said to somebody, well, yeah, I'm gonna get to that time soon. And they said, you can't retire. The blind needs you. Everybody needs you. And I said, you know what, it's kinda like my addiction. You know, people have addictions to some, unfortunately have drug drug addictions or drinking addictions. I guess my addiction is that I, I love what I do in the, in the Randall Shepherd program. And, um, as long as I keep getting that juice, uh, it's done. But what's up with me is it's fall. It's pretty getting ready for the holidays and love to spend time with the grandkids. What's up with you there?
Terry Smith (09:22):
Well, before I say what's up with me, uh, I, I, I mentioned, I went back and was listening to the podcast to see what our predictions were on the baseball. Um, and you know, you're, you're one of the few grandfathers that actually openly says, I have a favorite grandchild. And you, I mean, it's, it's out there in the
Nicky Gacos (09:51):
Well, my family knows it. And even Sharon Treadway, who I, who's great to see her in Tennessee, even, she said, how's your favorite granddaughter, Jasmine? I said, well, she's doing great. She's been, you know, she's doing great. And, um, and you know, she's the first, and everybody kind of knows it, but I love 'em all the same. And they know that too. I I still get my hugs from all of 'em, so Yeah, I know,
Terry Smith (10:11):
I know. I, I, I, I love my for to, for death, and, and I talk about 'em probably way too much on here, but WhatsApp with me is, I, I, you know, I, I, I guess, um, um, feeling a little old, to be honest with you. I mean, uh, uh, I've got, um, uh, my youngest son is turning 40 in a couple of days that, that just makes me feel old. You know, I, how old I actually am, doesn't really matter. But when I see my kids turn 40, that Yeah, I hear you
(11:23)
And I go, and she says, you need to lose that belly. And, and, um, uh, she said, you look so good in your clothes. And she said, but when you just see the belly, she said, she said, it just takes away from, from, from, from, from how good you look in your clothes. And, uh, I go, I, I, I make some comment. And she says, I know you're blind, but you're not that blind. You can see that belly
Nicky Gacos (12:12):
Some here goes the French fries.
Terry Smith (12:13):
Yeah. Oh, I, I had some this weekend 'cause they bought 'em at the bar and, and, and, and we're sitting there eating 'em. And, uh, um, I started eating some french fries, the first french fries I'd had in over a month. So, um, that was, uh, they were pretty darn good too. Uh, you know what a sucker I am for French fries, but yes, we
Nicky Gacos (12:31):
Do, we all do
Terry Smith (12:33):
French fries and popcorn
Nicky Gacos (12:34):
And mashed potatoes too.
Terry Smith (12:36):
Yeah. So, anyway, that's what's up with me. I'm 10 pounds lighter and, uh, uh, got still gonna try to drop a few more pounds and, you know, stay active. And so, uh, get into the winter months and, uh, hope, hope I don't put it back on when it, when it gets cold. So,
Nicky Gacos (12:51):
One, one last thing about what's up there, I think, I think we both adopted a new, uh, uh, grandson there. Barbara's grandson, Jonah
Terry Smith (13:11):
Yeah. Barbara Badger, who most of the listeners know who works for us, and she coordinates a lot of the logistics for these session trainings we do. And she was doing the same at the Tennessee conference, and she had our 6-year-old grandson. And every time he comes, we, we race. Now I got this old man racing, this 6-year-old boy, and, uh, I can't beat him. Um, but, um, so I had him race with, first of all, one shoe on and one shoe off, and he beat me. And then I had him put his left shoe on his right foot and his right shoe on his left foot and race me, and he beat me. Um, so then the next day I came in and I said, okay, I figured out why you beat me. I didn't stretch. And I started going through these stretching exercises, and he started dying laughing. Uh, I did tie him
Nicky Gacos (14:00):
All right, guys. All right. All right there. Enjoy, enjoy the blitz, everyone, and talk to you next month. All right. It is an honor to have on our podcast this month. Uh, bill Finley, the director of Blind of BEP Business Enterprise in Florida. Bill is officially leaving, um, the, the state, um, tomorrow, um, or well, the end of this month, um, that's tomorrow September 30th. And as of October 1st will be officially retired. And we thought that we would have Bill on to talk about, um, his tenure as the business enterprise director in Florida to ask him some questions to get his true feelings about business enterprise, where it was, where it's going. So Bill, welcome to the We are Randall Shepherd podcast.
Bill Findley (14:49):
Thank you. It's a pleasure to be with guys.
Terry Smith (14:53):
So I don't, I, I don't know, uh, getting his true feelings was never part of the deal, Nikki, we just
Bill Findley (15:08):
A little more than 15 years. I came on in July of 2010,
Terry Smith (15:16):
And I'm trying to remember, I, I looked at who was the longest tenured BEP director. Um, gosh, I, I can't,
Bill Findley (15:25):
It could be Lockett Phillips in Indiana. Um, he's been around a long time. I know for sure.
Terry Smith (15:32):
Yeah. Well, we'll have to, we'll have to figure that out and, uh, yeah. But, uh, you know, uh, uh, we, we do appreciate you coming on and, and, and just talking to us. You've been a, a great friend of, uh, uh, of, of the blind and a great friend of NABM and of me and Nikki, and we had a lot of fun, um, you know, giving you grief and,
Bill Findley (15:53):
And
Terry Smith (15:59):
Um, but, you know, 15 years you said. Um, what, what, what's the biggest changes you've seen, uh, in, in those 15 years?
Bill Findley (16:08):
Sure. Well, you know, when I came on, I, I knew very little about the program. Um, and I have to confess that, and Terry, you helped me a lot. You reached out early on after you found out that, you know, there was a new person, uh, in place in Florida, and you reached out, gave me some good guidance and advice, answered some questions that I had. Um, when I came on, I think, and this might have been a nationwide trend as well, uh, the food service were, were snack bars, cafeterias, directly serviced by blind vendors, was already diminishing. It was going away. When I came, we had maybe around 30, uh, food service locations directly serviced by a blind vendor. So that was, you know, already changing in motion before I came. And like, for example, right now we have only 14 of those snack bars, cafeterias.
(17:16)
We had zero military contracts when I came the, I know that Florida was, did not have an appetite for doing military contracting. And, um, you were, uh, Terry, you were one that encouraged us to go for the Eglin Air Force base, which we did, and we got way back. But, um, so those are changes. We now have, um, five, uh, military base contracts, hoping for six, maybe later, maybe next year after I'm gone. We have, um, as I said, 14 over the counter locations now directly serviced by a blind vendor, not including military contracts, 16 micro markets. A lot of those micro markets were over the counter food service locations. Um, but one of the changes that we are dealing with, and I'm sure others are too, just the mindset of those coming into the program. It used to be here very clear, um, that the rite of passage was that when you were licensed, you came in and you started off with a food service somewhere, you probably would've had to relocate. Now almost no one wants to do food service. There's a few, but mostly they do not wanna do food service. And they, they'll tell you they're willing to relocate, but many are not willing really to do that when it, when it really comes down to it. So those are the changes that I've seen in our, our, in Florida since I've been here.
Terry Smith (19:05):
I had a similar experience in Tennessee with, uh, when, when, when I was there. And we, you know, we basically got out of the food service business. Well, there's a few left, but someone asked me one time and says, why, you know, what made you want to do this? I said, it wasn't me. You know, it's our vendors, our, our vendors, uh, you know, they don't wanna do food service, and they're not as, they're not as, uh, profitable. And, um, you know, you got, you gotta change with the times. The, the industry has changed, and we had to change with it. So,
Bill Findley (19:33):
Oh, yeah. Well, all the, um, you know, all of these government buildings where we had snack bars and stuff, now there's, you know, there, there's fast food places people can get to easily. And of course now, especially since the pandemic, you can get anything you want delivered.
Nicky Gacos (19:53):
Yep. So true. Bill Florida's always been considered one of the top programs in the country. What do you think makes, why do you think that is and what makes you stand out as one of these, uh, one of these top programs?
Bill Findley (20:07):
Well, I think for one, I mean, we
(21:13)
We have built a lot of vending routes. We only had maybe one vending route in every major city when I came, maybe two in one or two places. But we have three or four or five, like in Jacksonville or in Tampa, places like that. And they make good money. Tallahassee. Yeah. We have less food services here, but we've got like three really lucrative vending routes, and the same is true in Miami and so on. So I think that's where one of our big efforts has come. We've gone after the va, we've had several sit down conversations with them. A number of years ago, Terry, you were a part of, I believe the first one that we had in Orlando,
Support (22:00):
Right?
Bill Findley (22:01):
When you happen to be down there for an NFB uh, conference. And we had other follow-up meetings, um, over in St. Petersburg. And we slowly came to
Terry Smith (22:54):
So people who don't know, know your program, I mean, you guys are the rest area of Mecca of the world. I mean, 50, 55 rest areas is, is that my number? Correct,
Bill Findley (23:03):
Yeah. Yeah. And usually two or three of 'em are closed for a rebuild or major construction. That's been one of the problems we've had is, um, they'll be closed for a couple of years sometimes if it's, if they're gonna tear the whole thing down and start from scratch. Uh, but yes, we do have that many, yes, some are small, some are pretty busy.
Terry Smith (23:28):
So just knock people outta their chair for a moment. Tell 'em how many vendors you have.
Bill Findley (23:33):
We have about 104 that are in facilities right now, and maybe another five or so kind of waiting in the wings, and again, waiting. They're waiting for just the right thing. There are things that, that they could get
Support (23:49):
Mm-hmm
Bill Findley (23:50):
Even on our last, um, cycle, which was our September cycle, I mean, our May cycle that ended in, um, August, one of our large vending routes in, in Pinellas County, which is St. Petersburg. Clearwater a good route. One person bid on it, was not awarded it, but was awarded a smaller route somewhere else. And they took that. I mean, there, it's a great route. Nobody, nobody wanted it.
Support (24:26):
Wow.
Bill Findley (24:26):
So it's a matter of, you know, people are wanting more of what they want. They want to be where they are, and they want just the right thing. And we, we couldn't, we couldn't figure that out. We just had a small route in Ocala, it's a small route, and the, the, the vendor had to retire and one person bid on it, A person who has a lot of stuff already, but he was the only one that bid on it, on a temporary, uh, uh, type two. So he got it. Um, I, you know, there's opportunities, but,
Terry Smith (25:08):
So
Bill Findley (25:08):
People have to be willing.
Terry Smith (25:09):
I can remember when, when, again, in Tennessee, Florida and Tennessee used to flip flop every, you know, it seemed like one year we'd have one more than you, and one year you'd have one more than us.
Bill Findley (25:33):
Well, and this, this includes our staff. I think over the years, you know, we have embedded a thousand in hiring. And of course when I say hiring like everybody else, we recommend people to the DOE leadership. And they, there's a process, but you know what I mean, we've been able to really grab some good people. Um, and I've mentioned this at different conferences early on, right after I took over, um, I was thinking, if we're gonna grow this program, we gotta have a dedicated person. So we got, we were able to carve out a marketing site development manager position. And that person has really helped us. We've had two different people in it. One guy retired and we have a new person in it that was a consultant for a while. But our staff loves to see the program do well, you know, and so it's a matter of identifying people who are quality people who wanna do a good job.
(26:40)
And we've been blessed to have a group of people like that, who work hard, communicate well with, um, the host agencies in their regions. And you guys gimme grief about, you know, praising my staff or talking about 'em. But I have to, because they do a bunch of stuff that I couldn't do without 'em. And they, they do a great job, and they, they want to grow. There's this internal friendly, um, competition between regions. Um, and it, it's, it surfaces every once in a while, uh, internally, and we kind of get a laugh about it. They, the regions want to do outdo each other. And so that helps our, our program to grow.
Nicky Gacos (27:32):
You know, bill, um, I, we, and I, and we have been fortunate enough to spend a lot of time in Florida coming to your biannuals and some of your other meetings. And I, and I do have to say that your staff is great. And, and that's a true sign of a great leader like you to surround yourself with good people. Um, and I think that we do that in our organization also. Um, and the other thing that was impressive was when I was down there last August for the biannual, was that your sales have skyrocketed since before COVID, if I'm correct.
Bill Findley (28:01):
Yeah.
Nicky Gacos (28:01):
Um, that you're having record sales.
Bill Findley (28:03):
Yeah.
Nicky Gacos (28:03):
So speaking of that, what has your been your biggest frustration as A-A-B-E-P director down in Florida?
Bill Findley (28:11):
Well, and again, it's one of those, um, blessing and curse things. Um, of course our, our program is authorized by the federal government, but, and I know every state has their challenges along like we do, but we're in the Department of Education. I don't really know how many other states reside and their State Department of Education. But obviously, and again, I'm not being critical of this fact, but the Department of Education in Florida is primarily interested in the kindergarten through 12th grade program, the colleges and universities. Now they are over adult and technical education, things like that. But, you know, we're, and you guys know this more than anybody, we're a unique group, a unique program. It takes a lot of educating to get people to understand what on earth it is that we're doing. And so, one of our frustrations, although I'm gonna say I've noticed a bit of a improvement lately, the last several months, you know, everything we do permits, federal permits, agre, any agreements, any contracts, all hiring recommendations that we do, they're handled and approved by various departments in our Department of Education building.
(29:45)
Those are departments that I've gotta be careful. I'm not, I have no authority, um, with those folks. And we have to be careful. Now, some of them, we work pretty closely with them, we have a good relationship with. But some, they don't want us knocking on their door, asking them, Hey, uh, where is this? Um, we, we really can't do that. And the other problem that we have in state government is there's leadership changes. And I don't mean so much like with our division. Robert Doyle's been here now for about 11, 12 years, but our commissioner just changed again. We have, um, the, the, a senior chancellor who position that's over, uh, our director position. That person just left. And there's a new one, of course, attorneys come and go. Those are the frustrations that I think that we face. 'cause it delays things. People don't know what we're doing, so we have to take the time to explain to them, this is what we're doing, this is why we're doing it. And fortunately, right now, we're in a pretty good spot as I leave. So I'm kind of happy about that, that things are a little better.
Nicky Gacos (31:16):
Speaking when you're leaving, uh, tomorrow being your last day, is there one thing that you wanted to get done that you didn't, or are you happy with how it's gonna leave when you leave tomorrow?
Bill Findley (31:26):
Well, again, this, this goes with the thing that's, uh, you know, the elephant in the room kind of a thing. And that is with the military base, uh, vending. Um, and I, you know, I know you guys know a lot more about all this than I do. I wish we would've made more progress with that. Um, with that said, we did get a settlement agreement with Eglin Air Force Base back in March. And they are now, we're, we're, we're to the point now where we're finalizing that permit. The last thing is storage. And we're gonna be getting 50 machines placed there with a fees moving out about 24 or 25 machines. Um, you know, but the other, and we, we've made some progress at Hurlbert. Hurlbert and Eglin are right next to each other. That will be one big vending route with some other things off base nearby.
(32:34)
Um, but, you know, things have been slow going at Tyndall. And I guess I, I just wish we would have in, in the end when all this settles a better relationship with afis, whether it is that we get everything that, you know, AFIS is doing re related to vending and micro markets or nano markets, because they have a lot of those now where they had vending before they have little micro markets. Um, if we could get everything like that and pay them a commission, because that's why they do it. They don't do it themselves directly. They get a contractor to do it, and then the contractor pays them. So it's not like they're hiring, uh, veteran military people to do it. They're, they just hire a contractor who may be nowhere near them, nowhere near the base. And so we could do that and pay them a fair commission. But, you know, I know that's something that'll be, have to be worked out down the road. But I wish we'd had more, uh, success at our military bases. We don't, there's a lot of bases in Florida that we don't have anything at, or maybe just a handful of things.
Terry Smith (33:53):
So Bill, you bring up, um, the, the, the Department of War, we're gonna call it now,
Bill Findley (34:12):
Right
Terry Smith (34:12):
To Secretary McMahon in education asking for a waiver, right. For the Randolph Shepherd party. You've got, you said you're on five military bases now, two points that he made in his letter were, uh, that we provide poor quality food and that our prices are, are too high. Um, in, in, in your years on, in, in working with the military down there and contracting officers, have you, what's been your experience with, with, with dealing with those issues? Those, those two issues in particular?
Bill Findley (34:45):
We really have never had an issue with the, let's see, food quality and any issue of any kind, whether it's inappropriate behavior of a staff member that's working, um, for our, our vendor and the teaming partner. Those things were all handled quickly and appropriately and completely to the satisfaction of the leadership on the base, the military leadership, we've, sometimes, we've had a couple of direct negotiations and a couple times after we've, there was a competitive solicitation, um, the military would come back and say, you know, you guys are within the competitive range. Let's talk about a couple things about your bid, though. And maybe they wanted something clarified. Why did you cost this out like this? And maybe there's a, a good explanation on our part. Or maybe it's like, well, I, I, we thought you, we needed to do this. And they might come back and say, oh, no, that's, that's not really what we're looking for there.
(35:58)
So maybe we could lower that, uh, proposal a little bit. Um, and I think even recently with Tyndall Mess Attendant, which we do not have, but hope to have it, we finally had a, I'd say about a 40. We had two meetings. The first one did not go well because of somebody on the Tyle side. The second meeting went very well. And there was, we were able to address, they had specific questions, and our teaming partner and us had specific answers. And we learned a lot from that meeting and said, oh, well, we could do this better. We can do this better. And, you know, those discussions, we can, we can meet their need. If they would just talk to us like the regulations allow them to do, they would be happy. We would be happy. Correct. So, I, I hope we can get to that place, um, everywhere. That would be wonderful.
Nicky Gacos (37:06):
Last question that I have for you, bill, is before we get some party words from you, is, um, you are considered a leader around the country, whether you know it or not. Um, and in a lot of respect, what do you, what, how would you think of the overall health of the Red Shepherd program, both in Florida and around the country?
Bill Findley (37:24):
Well, you know, it's, it's hard for me to assess, you know, all the different states. I, you know, I'm on some meetings, um, and I hear stuff, or I go to conferences like, you know, the Vegas, uh, conference that we had. And, um, and I, I, I, the thing that I'm aware of that you guys have made us all aware of is the number of vendors nationally is way down. I guess that number in itself is concerning. Is there a lack of interest in the states? Are the states doing what they need to do to recruit for their state? We actively recruit through our blind services offices. We will go around and we make it our, uh, purposeful effort to visit every blind services local office or satellite office. We, we try to do one every two years, visit one every two years, um, because there's always a change in staff.
(38:31)
The counselors are new, they don't do this all the time. So they need to be reminded of the kind of people we're looking for and what the steps are to get somebody, uh, to apply for our training program. I don't know what other states do, if they do anything like that, but I think the, the lower number nationally has to be concerning. Um, if there's a lack of interest, um, you know, we lost a lot as a result of the pandemic. We were around 120 something before the pandemic. We had a slew of people who left, um, during the pandemic. They just said, well, I was gonna retire in two to three or four years anyway. Might as well do that. Now. My building isn't never gonna come back like it was. And even though some of those buildings have come back, some haven't. But, you know, there's, there's still opportunities.
(39:30)
We have opportunities, but it's up to every state to create opportunities and to make them known and to make the benefits of our program known. We tell our offices, Hey, our average vendor earnings average is about a hundred thousand. First year, this past year was about 48,000. Uh, median earnings are 40. I mean, are are 89,000 this past year. If that doesn't get some of those counselors excited. And by the way, we mentioned this at a meeting last week or two in Jacksonville, where our blind services, vr people were meeting for training all week. When we mentioned those figures, we heard people in the crowd going, whoa, wow.
Sponsors (40:24):
Yeah.
Bill Findley (40:24):
So they never had an idea. So I think you have to just tell your story and keep telling it.
Terry Smith (40:32):
So Bill, I remember, and I hate to call, call you out a little bit here, um, uhoh, when, when, when, yeah.
Nicky Gacos (41:06):
And that's exactly what we are about 30% that we lost,
Terry Smith (41:09):
Right? Yeah. We nailed it. I mean, we were right on the number. Uh, not something I'm proud of. No, uh, you know, I'd much rather have been very, very wrong. But, uh, so Bill, we're recording this on, uh, mm-hmm
Sponsors (41:31):
Sure.
Terry Smith (41:32):
Um, I'm give you the last opportunity. You will no longer be a BEP director when this airs. I wanna let you take some parting shots or parting words.
Bill Findley (41:52):
Well, first of all, I wanna thank you guys very much, uh, for being my friends. And I'll even thank Ed Birmingham if he's out there. Um, you know, uh, yeah, he
Terry Smith (42:53):
Well, I just want you to know you're not going away forever. 'cause we are gonna have you back for the Chicago Hot Sox win the World Series
Bill Findley (42:59):
Nicky Gacos (43:02):
Bill Findley (43:07):
Uh, oh.
Nicky Gacos (43:08):
He said, uh, come on. You think Philly's really retiring this time? That was number one. Number two, he really wanted to be on this call, but he's actually working today. Oh. Bar. And he wanted me to make, oh, his one day, his one day of work today. Boy, no party shots at anybody else, Terry, but it Poor Ed, right? Boy, ed. Poor Ed. But he loves you too. And professionally, we want to thank you, um, as a friend. We want to thank you. Um, it's been a great to know you and spend time with you. And on behalf of the National Association by Merchants Behi, um, um, we are Randall Shepherd Podcast, uh, from Ed Birmingham, from myself. And I'll let Terry speak. We wanna just say thank you, and I hope you enjoy retirement. And, um, unfortunately you did give us your, uh, uh, email address and stuff. So we'll be in touch with you, bill, just to
Bill Findley (43:56):
Let you Yeah, I'm gonna be moving really fast and I'm gonna be changing all of my contact information,
Nicky Gacos (44:02):
Bill Findley (44:09):
Thank you,
Terry Smith (44:10):
Thank you. Thank
Bill Findley (44:11):
You for
Nicky Gacos (44:11):
Everything.
Terry Smith (44:11):
I'll just reiterate what, what, what Nikki said. Uh, if I enjoyed the relationship, uh, you're a true professional. Uh, you know, it is all, all I've ever said is that, you know, I just want agencies and directors who give a damn. And you certainly do. And you always look for what's in the best interest of your program and your, your vendors. And, you know, things don't always go as we want them to. Uh, we don't always agree on everything. Uh, but, you know, you are always your, your heart and your head was always in the right place. And I think the, the, the what, the, the numbers you were, you, you were giving us earlier, speak to that. So I'll say thank you. I will wish you the best in retirement. And, uh, if we're down in Florida at some time, uh, maybe we can get together and Sure. Uh, we'll, we'll see you down the road.
Bill Findley (45:01):
Sure. Yeah. Thank you all very much. Thank you.
Terry Smith (45:04):
So we're gonna get on now with an abbreviated version of the Blitz. Uh, every quarter, um, in January, April, July and October, we do the blitz. And it's an update on everything Randolph Shepherd related everything, all the news that is the news. And so this is gonna be an abbreviated version, hopefully, uh, try to keep it short and, uh, 'cause I know this, uh, podcast has probably gone long enough. And so, uh, gonna hit on some, some highlights of some things that are going on. As we mentioned earlier, this is being recorded on September the 29th. Um, so by the time you hear this, we will know whether or not there was a government shutdown. The, uh, at this particular moment, it appears there will definitely be a shutdown. So when you're hearing this, uh, you'll know whether I was right or wrong. And, um, you know, we, we do have some concern about our friends at, uh, at RSA and how this could impact them.
(46:00)
Uh, the posturing that's taking place in DC, uh, with, um, you know, the president saying he will fire all non-essential employees, which would be most of the folks at RSA. So, uh, we, we gotta keep an eye on that. Of course, we're also concerned, uh, that about the impact that a shutdown will have on our blind vendors. That's, that, that is, you know, foremost in our, in, in our minds. If the workers are go home, then, um, there's nobody to sell your product to. And after having gone through the COVID, uh, pandemic, uh, you know, we all sort of get a little skittish about, uh, uh, not having people in the building to, to serve. So let's hope the shutdown, and assuming there is a shutdown, it will be short-lived. And, uh, we, they'll get back to work and it'll be business as usual. I wanna mention, uh, we, we mentioned we in, in last month's podcast, uh, and talk discussed it earlier with Bill Finley, the letter that Secretary Seth sent to the Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, asking for a waiver of the, um, uh, of the Randolph Shepherd priority on all DOD property.
(47:12)
Um, we have been hard at work, uh, trying to establish some dialogue. Um, we are close to having a meeting set up with, with, with high ranking folks in the Department of Education, uh, have made some contacts and are hopefully gonna have a meeting with the Department of Defense as well. Um, so we're, we're still working on that. Uh, the National Council State Agencies for the Blind is scheduled to have their own meeting. We brought them into the loop after, um, learning what was going on, and we shared everything we had with them. Uh, because the state agencies and blind vendors are in this together, uh, they were having a separate meeting with the Department of Education. So, um, we continue to work on that. Uh, I don't think this is gonna be a really, really fast process. We're hoping that we can, uh, sort of bring it to a end and, uh, without it, uh, becoming, you know, any kind of legal confrontation or anything like that, uh, I think it's a mistake if we approach this thing, you know, trying to defend the status quo.
(48:16)
I think, I know there's a lot of people that will disagree with that. Um, I think, um, that the Department of Defense, or we should be calling it the Department of War, uh, they feel the way they feel, and we gotta recognize how they feel, uh, whether or not we believe it is based on facts or not. And we gotta address, um, you know, the, their, their concerns, uh, or educate them or, or a combination of the two. So our, our message is one of collaboration. Uh, let's work with the stakeholders and the Department of Defense and Department of Education to come up with a, a solution that makes them feel more comfortable. We were very happy that Secretary Hex Seth actually dined in one of our Randolph Shepherd facilities at Fort Benning, Georgia. And, um, uh, not sure that he realized it was a Randolph Shepherd facility, but he said the food was fantastic.
(49:14)
Uh, and he had his picture taken with the entire food staff there, uh, which was, uh, which was awesome. Uh, Wayne Dye and Bob Matus, our two vendors down there who, who run that contract, um, and, and, and their teaming partner Blackstone, put on a, a really good meal for the, for the secretary. And, and, and he acknowledged, uh, acknowledged that. So stuff like that doesn't hurt. We always say, you know, the best thing we can ever do is run good businesses and run good operations, whether you're in a military dining or have a small vending route or whatever. Just do the best job you can. 'cause you never know, uh, who's watching or who you're serving or anything like that. So, but anyway, this is gonna be a long process. Uh, it's not gonna be something that's gonna be resolved. Uh, the Department of Education has requested additional information and additional justification from the Department of Defense to, uh, to, to consider the waiver.
(50:12)
And supposedly, it's our understanding the Department of Defense is in the process of gathering that information. So, um, we'll, we'll see how this plays out. Um, and, uh, you know, we're hopeful that we can turn lemon into lemonade, and that this can be an opportunity to, to actually make program improvements then, and, and be less of a threat to, um, to, to our, to our livelihoods. We are absolutely committed to defending the priority, uh, right as all this is happening. It was very interesting that news broke that the Pentagon wants to get out of the grocery business, you know, the, uh, uh, exchanges and the commissary, uh, they, they operate a, the commissary service on the, on the basis operate grocery stores. And so, DOD has sent out a request for information to see if possibly the grocery, uh, any of the grocery chains out there would be willing to operate that grocery business on the base, or as an alternative could, uh, men in uniform and, and, uh, families and retirees and whoever else is normally going to those stores, if they could go into the grocery stores and get the regular discount that they would get at the, on an on ba at an on base store.
(51:28)
And I think that, I think the commissary sell is something like 27.5% or some, some number like that, uh, less than than, than what normal retail is. So they're looking at ways that they can get out of the grocery business. And, um, so that we, I found, found that interesting. Uh, while before all this happened, we had proposed a multi-state arbitration where many states, uh, hopefully 15 to 20 would come together and file for an arbitration complaint against the, uh, department and the, and the exchanges, um, for violating the Randolph Shepherd Act and denying blind vendors access to military bases to provide traditional, uh, vending facility services. There are approximately 350 military installations in this country, and about 22% of those have a blind vendor present. Uh, and about, oh, 15 or 16% actually have a, a blind vendor there working full-time. And, you know, they, that their facility on the military base will provide a full-time living for them.
(52:35)
So we are, you know, barely scratching the surface when it comes to opportunities on DOD properties. You know, it's also ironic that, you know, the, either the 1974 amendments where they put the language in about that the priority did not apply if the vending facility was adverse to the interest of the United States. And, um, um, but then it was, um, also when they were passing the amendments that the reason the amendments came about in part, was due to DODs non-compliance with the law. So Congress really wanted, uh, the Department of Defense to comply with the law. That was a driving force behind the 1974 amendments. And, um, uh, but then ironically, they put the language in that the Department of Defense is now trying to use against us, uh, and to try to get their, their argument is that our operations are adverse to the interest of the United States.
(53:31)
But anyway, back to the multi-state arbitration, uh, the, um, uh, we have had conversations with states. We've made presentations to the states, brown ghosting, and Levy is willing to, uh, represent the states in a multi-state arbitration. Um, we're gonna see how many states are wanting to really go that route. Um, as we go to press with this thing. Uh, we only have two states that are a firm. Yes, we have seven or eight that are pretty close to a yes, we think, uh, but we're gonna need 15 to 20 to make this work. So, um, we'll see, uh, see, see where, where, where that goes. And, uh, if we're able to, to, to get to the point that we can actually do that, um, we think that would be, you know, further, uh, way that we can get the Department of Defense to the table to talk with us.
(54:23)
Um, and, and, and, you know, that's our main goal is to collaborate and communicate and, and to educate. And, um, and, and so hopefully, you know, that would be the intent of the arbitration. Uh, the Department of Defense continues to take advantage of the direct negotiations that are permitted under the, uh, law. They don't have to bid these things out. They can directly negotiate with state licensing agencies. Mississippi just directly negotiated two contracts at Keesler Air Force Base and at Camp Shelby. Um, and the, um, um, air Force and Army were happy with the service they were getting, and they were able to sit down and negotiate a fair and reasonable price. And so those con, both of those operations will continue under the Randolph Shepherd Program. Along the same lines, we've got, uh, the Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho, um, has, uh, uh, been awarded to the Idaho SLA.
(55:27)
So congratulations to the Idaho SLA for getting into the Troop dining business, uh, at the Mountain Home Air Force Base. Tony Bridges is gonna be the blind vendor there, and he is partnering with, uh, Blackstone Consulting there. So congratulations to Idaho and to Tony and to Joe Blackstone has a really interesting development at the US Coast Guard in Alabama, uh, where the contract was to be reviewed. There was a delay in getting the contract signed, and they actually had to shut down operations. Uh, and it, it became really quite an awkward situation. There was no food available. They were sending the people off based to live and eat. Uh, it took several weeks before the Department of Homeland Security was able to get a contract processed and to continue that service. And, uh, just the, you, the bureaucracy that's involved in all of this, but, uh, was, was, is just really challenging sometimes.
(56:29)
And some of the new requirements that the, that the government has put into place has made it even harder. But they are back up and running. That's a location where Barbara Manuel, our, um, uh, our blind vendor there, uh, not only provides food service, but she also provides, provides janitorial service. So they had nobody serving food and they had nobody cleaning the dormitories. So, uh, it was, uh, it, it, it was quite problematic. Um, she partners with Southern Food Service there, but like I said, they are up and running. Uh, we mentioned, and Nikki and I mentioned earlier about the state meetings that, that we've been participating in. Uh, in the last quarter we participated in Arizona, West Virginia, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Florida, California, New York, Michigan, Indiana, Tennessee, and Louisiana. And I may have missed one or two in there. Uh, West Virginia was virtual, New York was virtual, and Louisiana was virtual.
(57:24)
Uh, the rest were all in person. Um, coming up. Um, we've got Texas, Mississippi, Kentucky, um, and, uh, probably Wisconsin. And then we're gonna begin Florida in December. We're gonna be doing some special training for the Committee of Blind Vendors in Florida. So we're gonna be down there for a couple of days, uh, doing some in-person training, some other state news of importance. Uh, the Arizona, uh, committee of Blind vendors is officially a 5 0 1 3. I don't think it's a three C3 six or whatever it is. Uh, but they have incorporated and are now officially a nonprofit. Uh, there's a lot of advantages to doing that. We don't have many committees that have done that. Uh, but feel free to reach out to Adam Bevel, who's the chair there, who can talk you through some of that process. Kentucky's doing some innovative things with Hunt, with Hunt, uh, brothers Pizza, uh, hunt Brothers Pizza.
(58:24)
I don't know if it, you know, at least in the south especially. Um, you know, they're at all these convenience stores around the, uh, um, stop along the interstate at a, at a, at a, at a convenience store, gas station, and they'll have hunt brother pizza in there. And so Kentucky has got two other locations. Now, I know one's at the IRS in Covington, and uh, so that's a real, real coup for them to be able to pull that off in. Congratulations for them. Tennessee vendors got some good news. Uh, the state agency had something like three, $4 million of federal dollars left as we get here to the end of the federal year. And so, um, they approached the blind vendors, the committee of blind vendors and said if they could use the match outta set aside that they could use that money to buy new equipment.
(59:14)
And, um, so the TBE program in Tennessee's gonna be getting like $4 million worth of three to 4 million. I don't know the exact number depending on how you do the math. Uh, but they're gonna get several million dollars worth of new equipment. So, uh, I know the vending machine, uh, suppliers are very, very happy. Um, and, uh, the manufacturers. So, um, and the vendors should be happy to, that they're gonna be getting a lot of equipment in California. Uh, the workplace surveillance ban was, uh, stalled. They had a bill in the, in the legislature there that would limit the use of surveillance equipment on in the workplace, which would kill the idea of a micro market. Now, California's not doing micro markets just yet. Hopefully they're gonna get into that, into that realm of business. But if that bill had passed, it would've certainly made it tough.
(01:00:07)
Speaking of California, they have a new BEP director, Luis Rodriguez. Congratulations to being promoted. They were in the program before and this was a promotion, so we're happy for them. Kansas has a brand new one. I mean, just within days of this broadcast. Uh, Ashley Terry, good last name, uh, is the new director there, North Carolina. I, it's on the verge of having a new director start. Uh, I'm not exactly sure of the date there. Nebraska is very close to getting a new director there. They've been interviewing, uh, to, uh, replace Eric who retired, uh, Mississippi still has, has an opening, uh, and they are looking as well. Um, some other big news that related to what's going on in the States is that the Department of Energy announced the location for, uh, the artificial intelligence data centers that are gonna be, uh, built on federal lands.
(01:01:12)
And, uh, they announced four sites for these. These are huge, huge operations. I'm sure you've heard about all the electricity that they take and all of that. Um, so these data centers are gonna be built on federal lands in Idaho, Tennessee, Kentucky, and South Carolina. Uh, we're anxious to see whether or not this results in any opportunities for our blind vendors. And finally, I wanna mention in the, the Common Sense Act that, that C-E-N-T-S act, uh, that is, uh, in Congress. Um, and you know, what this bill would do, uh, would eliminate the production of the penny, which doesn't cause us much concern, but it would also change the composition of the nickel, uh, using a less expensive and, and, and lighter, um, material to, to, to make the nickel, which then would cause some problems for the coin mix. And we, since we have machines that, that last forever, uh, if the nickels would not work in the coin make, it would be very problematic for the, uh, vending industry as a whole.
(01:02:27)
NABM, uh, ENA has been leading the, uh, fi in, you know, against that. Uh, NABM has provided support. So, uh, at this point, uh, the bill has not gone anywhere to my knowledge. And so we will continue to track that and see how things go. So I said this is gonna be an abbreviated version of the Blitz, and that's all the news that I've got for you guys, um, this, this month. So, uh, hope you will join us next month, uh, on November 1st for the next episode of the We Are Randolph Shepherd Podcast drops. Until then, have a happy fall. Have a happy Halloween, and we will talk to you guys in a month. Goodbye.
Sponsors (01:03:14):
The We are Randolph Shepherd Podcast. Would like to thank our sponsors, the National Association of Blind Merchants, Blackstone Consulting, Southern Food Service, Sodexo in Reach, Greenway Paper Supplies, Coca-Cola Tyler Technologies. You selected Cantaloupe Curate Dr. Pepper and Commissary services of Nashville.
Support (01:03:44):
If you would like to support the We Are Randolph Shepherd Podcast, we would love to have you on board. Corporate sponsors may contact Nikki gecos@nikkicolorado.netscape.net. Individuals who would like to support the podcast may do so by donating to the National Association of Blind Merchants at www dot blind merchants dot board. We would love to have your support. We.